rs, so now it came without the Englishman, and in the morning he had not returned. Of course, every mind was filled with anxiety in regard to the three sailors, but Captain Horn's soul was racked with apprehensions of which he did not speak. The conviction forced itself upon him that the men had been killed by wild beasts. He could imagine no other reason why Davis should not have returned. He had been ordered not to leave the beach, and, therefore, could not lose his way. He was a wary, careful man, used to exploring rough country, and he was not likely to take any chances of disabling himself by a fall while on such an expedition.

Although he knew that the great jaguar was found in Peru, as well as the puma and black bear, the captain had not supposed it likely that any of these creatures frequented the barren western slopes of the mountains, but he now reflected that there were lions in the deserts of Africa, and that the beasts of prey in South America might also be found in its deserts.

The Treasure of the Incas and the Paranoia It Induced in Its Plunderers and How the Black Guys Were Screwed Out of Their Share

If it took unusual perception to discern and bring to a reader the unlooked-for better qualities of "coal-black, heathen Africans," this author failed entirely to do so. Why interpolate Africans into a South American setting to start with, then continue around the world with them to Paris if they're such an impediment?

This book might have been readable if the unceasingly repeated racist passages had not made it into print, but it would also have been a good deal shorter.

Some of Stockton's works are pretty much canonical and provide the modern reader with a glimpse into an earlier time. This book may, too, but not in a pleasant way.

If I believed at all in bowdlerization, this would be a prime candidate.